A day in Madison

I know it's been a while since I did a family blog post, and the grandmas are not happy with me, so it's definitely past time to share our family day in the capitol city. We were blessed with an astoundingly gorgeous day, no crowds, and plenty to see and do and taste in Madison! Now that the kids have both been through our state history courses, we set out for the Capitol Building knowing they'd be better able to appreciate what we were going to see.

The building itself is just astoundingly gorgeous, and full of Wisconsin symbols like "w" and badgers and eagles. The kids thought it was so cool (ok, me too) that there are dozens of fossils visible embedded in the variety of stones used in the floors and walls.

We went up, up, up into the dome and out onto an observation platform, for fantastic views of Madison. The capitol is built on an isthmus between two of the four lakes. It really is a beautiful city.

Then after we visited the wonderful and moving Wisconsin Veterans Museum, right there on Capitol Square, we had the privilege of going to the retirement reception for my dear mother in law Shirley. She spent almost 20 years with the Department of Natural Resources. She is now thoroughly enjoying retirement with Jim, my hard-working father in law, who also retired this summer from Bergstrom Hummer. Every time I see them I'm just tickled at how happy they are with their very well-deserved retirement. Couldn't have happened to nicer people.

To cap off our gorgeous day, we had a gift certificate to a Brazilian charrusco steakhouse, so after the reception the kids toddled off with the grandparents and Mike and I went on a date and ate way too much meat. It was a really wonderful day spent exploring in our own backyard–something we'd challenged ourselves to do this summer. We didn't get everything checked off our Wisconsin "Bucket List," though, so there are definitely more adventures to come!